Unnamed Story
by Dreadlow
Summary: Thankful for the downtime she can finally enjoy after so many smuggling ventures; Veronica Morningstar has a chance encounter with an Imperial scout trooper. Their meeting becomes entangled in dismay and due to a misunderstanding, become fugitives of the Empire. Their fates now intertwined, they begin to unravel a mystery neither of which were prepared for.
1. First Impressions

**IMPORTANT NOTES:**

This story is set two years after the battle of Yavin IV, placing it generally between the first two movies of the original trilogy. Events depicted throughout the story will maintain consistency in timeline placement. For example, the Battle of Hoth will NOT be an event depicted in this story, however as a base on Hoth is constructed by the Rebels in 2 ABY, events taking place in said base may occur and will thus not ruin continuity. As such, important and well known events will be strayed away from, with less known but equally important ones touched on. The focus will be of the two main characters and stick to a close canon as possible. Some parts may be stretched in order to facilitate a growing relationship, or an important event in this story to occur, but will promptly be brought back.

I welcome all critique, review, and comments as this is my first story. I had this idea many years ago, and have had it sitting on my hard drive since it's start. It's relatively planned out (reference pictures, diagrams, etc. of vehicles and weapons in order to facilitate descriptive writing) and has a plotted story. My hopes are to not only expand this story, but also to learn how to write in a more descriptive and meaningful way.

Sadly, however, updates will not be scheduled or timely due to college and work affairs.

With that said, I hope you enjoy reading what I have, as much as I enjoyed writing it.

* * *

**Chapter One – First Impressions**

As the clouds rolled across the sky, day slowly turning into night, she couldn't help but smile. She wondered just how long it had been since she last was able to relax. All the excitement the past couple of months had taken a toll on her. She had seen enough crates of Booster Blue spice for an entire lifetime; and that's saying something considering she smuggled for a living. To be on Naboo again was such a great feeling to her. To be lying in the wild grass, the trees scattered around her, it felt amazing. She was in the jungle now. Not too far from Theed, but just enough to be alone. She never thought she'd ever feel this way. She was always more comfortable in space. Never felt comfortable staying in one spot for too long. It must have been the job, enough time out in space and even the most hardened of people can crave for ground beneath their feet again. A star slowly shimmered in the night sky. No, it was more than that. This was home, her home. She was born here, raised here, it's only natural she'd feel this way. Even if she was more comfortable in space, she'd always have a spot in her heart for her home. She sighed lightly. A slow breeze blew her hair in front of her eyes. She pushed the strands behind her ear. She felt safe here, as ridiculous as it sounded. Snap. Something just broke. Through her occupation, she'd gained a heightened sense of awareness. Her surroundings started to become clearer, her concentration now coming back after the day dreaming. That noise was definitely a branch snapping. Normally she wouldn't have thought anything of it, but this time she felt uneasy; her instincts told her something was wrong, and she always trusted her instincts. She reached for her blaster, aiming it towards the noise. She didn't know what to expect, but there was definitely something out in that brush. It was a dense area as well, hard to see into. She strained her eyes, trying to see any hint of what was out there.

As if on cue, a helmet had shot out from the direction of the thick brush that she was aiming for. It hit the ground and slowly rolled coming to a stop at her feet. It was as white as a common flower on Corellia, and yet it shared neither the beauty nor kindness. It had a sickeningly familiarity to it. It was a scout trooper's helmet. It was the sign of a solider. A grunt followed soon after the realization. As if following the helmet, a figure had been thrown from the brush, hitting the ground hard with yet another grunt. A hint of annoyance emanated from it. It was clear that this figure was the owner of the helmet; a male trooper with dark brown hair clad in the signature armor. As he laid there on his back, he had no time to react as a Tusk Cat pounced out as well, viciously slashing and clawing at him. The trooper brought his hands up, protecting his now unarmored head. Thankfully, scout trooper armor was strong, even if made to be light weight. Even the bracers on his forearms were enough to protect him for a little while. That's all he needed though. With a quick left hook, he was able to disorient the creature enough to get his feet up underneath and push it back, giving himself enough time to get to his feet. "You damn animal!" he shouted as his hand reached down to his belt, unclasping a pouch. He swiftly pulled out his knife. "You knocked my helmet off... now you're starting to piss me off." He gripped the handle tighter, running agilely towards the tusk cat. Without a moment's hesitation he had the knife under the creature's throat; he pulled in one fluid motion, and the tusk cat fell to the ground, motionless. "I really didn't want to do that..." he sighed, placing the blade back into his pouch. "You just wouldn't leave me alone. What animal takes the time to stalk something for over a mile?" He asked the corpse, knowing full well he wouldn't get an answer. He scratched the back of his head, breathing in deeply and slowly exhaling. His hand slowly went back to his side. For a moment he seemed to be in deep thought as he stared at the corpse. He turned his head to look behind him. "Oh, so that's where my helmet wen-..." he stopped himself, realizing now that he was at the wrong end of a blaster. "Eh, ugh, hold on now... just a minute..." he began; he put his hands up, showing nothing was in them. "I know I just suddenly popped up out of nowhere, but that's not any reason to be pointing a blaster at me! Is it?!" He seemed nervous; his calm and determined demeanor that he just had not even moments ago had disappeared. He held an awkward smile as he looked wide eyed at the barrel of the blaster.

She almost started to laugh. She quickly brought up her other hand to cover her mouth, trying hard not to start a laughing fit. Who was this guy? For an Imperial solider he sure didn't seem qualified. Sure, he had some good moves, but anyone with their life on the line could have done something to get away. He, he was just laughable. He wasn't what you'd expect a soldier for the Empire to be. He was practically a normal person. He stared at her with confusion, and slight embarrassment. He looked away quickly and folded his arms. "What's so funny?" he asked with a twinge of annoyance. He finally turned back to look at her. Even though she was trying her best to hold back her laughter, he could tell she was amused. He couldn't believe it. He couldn't help but notice how she looked though. She was pretty raggedy, her hair pulled up into a ponytail, and the shirt on her greased up. He finally snapped out of his trance. "Hey, could I have my helmet back?" She slowly started to calm down, lowering the blaster slightly while a wide smile formed on her face. "Well, well, well. So you're a Storm Trooper, huh? You could have fooled me." she snickered. He couldn't do anything but sigh. "Well Mr. Trooper, I don't know what you're doing out here, but I'm a little interested." Her look changed, it was more serious now, her eyes looking at him intently. She raised her blaster back up, aiming dead center on his forehead. The trooper's eyes widened immediately. "Oh come on now," she said "you didn't think I was going to just let you walk away, right? I want the truth, what were you doing out here? Were you stalking me?" Once again he felt embarrassed. She smiled again, loving the fact that she could so easily embarrass the poor man. "Actually, I'm a scout trooper. And, I wasn't following you;" he began "I was on a routine patrol. I was ordered to patrol a one-thousand meter radius north by northeast of Theed." He smiled. "I got a little side tracked with the stars, and I guess this little guy," he gestured towards the corpse of the Tusk Cat "got pretty interested in me. He was stalking me for quite some time. I thought he'd just eventually leave me alone if I kept walking, so I deviated from my patrol, hoping he'd lose interest." He turned around, startling the girl as he pointed at the corpse. She gripped her blaster tighter, finger now resting lightly on the trigger. "But NO! You couldn't just leave me alone, could you? You had to flank me, catch me off guard, and knock my helmet off!" he started flailing. She just stared at him. Was this guy for real? He couldn't be a trooper. She'd never known one to act like this before. "You're not like the other troopers I've seen." She began. He stopped flailing, and turned back to her with a puzzled look. "What do you mean?" he asked. She laughed, "Well, most troopers I've seen don't act like that. They're more stoic, kind of irritable, and definitely wouldn't be talking with me as if I was an equal." He stood there, nodded, and placed his hand on his chin. "Huh, I never thought of it like that before. Why wouldn't they take you as an equal though? You seem pretty capable to me and I just met you." He smiled brightly. It was her turn to feel embarrassed this time; she blushed. "HA!" he yelled. "I finally got you back!" he laughed, proud of what he'd accomplished. She was even more embarrassed now that she felt caught off guard. "Sh-shut up!" was all she could say. He only chuckled, smiling again at her. "Hey, it's ok. It's just a natural emotion to feel embarrassed. Absolutely nothing wrong with that." She stared at him, "Emotion? I thought troopers were taught to push their emotions aside for the greater good of the Empire?" He sighed, "Well, according to you I'm not your average soldier. Who wants to sit and pretend they don't feel anything from their work? I'm not a clone, you know. Every action I take, I feel something because of it. Whether it's regret," he looked down slightly at the corpse beside him. His gazed quickly shifted back, "or even pride if it's something for the greater good. Why would I hide that? That's what makes me human." He looked up towards the night sky. Her eyes softened. Why was it he had this effect on her? He seemed perfectly normal. She felt, comfortable around him. Her instincts told her she was safe. But he was a Imperial solider, she was a smuggler. After being chased for so long by the Empire, was it really alright to feel comfortable near one of them?

Unbeknownst to both of them, through their conversation a signal was being sent through the trooper's helmet. "TK-3149 this is squad leader, you have not sent in your bi-hourly report, please respond." A minute later, "Trooper, please respond. You're late with your bi-hourly report." A few more minutes later, "3149 if you can hear this, we're sending a small squad to your location to check on your status, squad leader out."

The sun began to break through the horizon, slowly bringing the surroundings more vibrancy. The trooper looked towards the horizon, closing his eyes and breathing in deeply. "Dawn, already? Time flies, I suppose. What I wouldn't do to be able to fly as well." One of her eyebrows rose, "You've never flown?" She was surprised, an Imperial solider who never flew? He was definitely unique. "I haven't gotten any assignments yet for space. Besides, this is my home. I've never left this old rock," he said it with a laugh. "Young blood, eh?" she couldn't help herself as she teased him. He could only smile. He turned to look behind him. A moment later he looked to his right, worried. "What's got you so worried trooper?" He looked at her and held up a finger to his lips. Steps could be heard from around the brush, and suddenly a voice penetrated the silence. "TK-3149, are you here?" The trooper looked towards where the voice had originated. He yelled back, "Over here!" Four Storm Troopers ran out of the brush, fully armored. "We've been sent by the squad leader to check on your status, you haven't sent in your bi-hourly repo-…" the one speaking stopped talking as he looked at the woman. He brought his weapon up and aimed it at her; surprise consumed her as her eyes widened. As did the trooper she was once talking to. The rest of the squad raised their weapons, aiming at her as well. "Don't move!" the one yelled. "TK-3149, are you alright?" He couldn't understand what he was talking about, of course he was alright. He'd been talking to this woman since the Tusk Cat had attacked him. Why were they aiming at her as if she was dangerous? He looked back at her, seeing she was frozen with fear. But there was something else on her face that he couldn't quite read. What exactly was it? At that moment, he realized the problem. She had her blaster pistol in her hand, and his helmet in front of her. He brought his hand up towards his forehead, and realized he was bleeding from when the Tusk Cat had attacked him. Now he understood. This situation looked as if she'd been the one to hurt him, as if she was holding him hostage. The woman blurted out, snapping him back from his thoughts, "You set me up?" She was looking at him, angry and… that's what it was, he realized. She looked hurt; upset. "This was a ploy so you could wait for backup?!" she yelled out to him. The four Storm Troopers took more of an aggressive position, the one yelled at her. "Don't move woman! Assault on a soldier of the Empire is of the highest caliber punishment!" He couldn't believe they were accusing her of hurting him, she didn't do anything, in fact, he thought he'd scared her more than anything considering he popped out of the brush so wildly. He started to explain, "Calm down TK-4468, this isn't what you thi-…" he was cut off. "Don't worry TK-3149; we'll make sure this woman knows not to assault Imperials. Don't let her escape men!" The other three Storm Troopers followed his orders; they started to walk closer to her, still holding their aggressive stances. She was still looking at him with such anger, she quickly came to. She needed to get away, how could she let this one man… this one Imperial get the best of her? She pulled her blaster up, ready to fire at one of the Storm Troopers walking towards her. They saw her raise her blaster and stopped in their tracks, now with their fingers on the trigger. "Don't even think about it woman! We will fire!" the one yelled again. She stopped halfway up. She didn't know what to do. She was surrounded; there wasn't a way to escape this time. How could she have gotten captured like this? She'd gotten away so many times, in much worse conditions. Why was it so easy for that one trooper to completely change her actions? If it weren't for him, she'd never have fallen for a trap like this. She cursed herself for letting this happen, for letting him affect her like that. She was a smuggler. And he was an Imperial solider. She had to try and get away. Even if she couldn't, she wasn't going down without a fight.

Before she could react, the helmet-less scout trooper ran at one of the other troopers. He quickly grabbed his blaster rifle, pulling it out of his hands and tossing it to the ground. He used his right hand and performed an uppercut, catching his victim off guard. He sank downwards, and kicked his leg out, pulling off a leg sweep. The off guard trooper fell, hitting his head hard on the ground, knocking him unconscious. The others had turned their attention towards the assailant, aiming at his head. "TK-3149 what are you doing?!" Hearing his call sign, he looked at the one who had talked, and ran towards him. Thankfully they weren't far away; else if they fired while he was running, he'd never be able to make it. This time he kicked the weapon out of the troopers hands, dug his foot into the ground that he had just kicked with, and spun his other leg around smashing it into his target's helmet. The others tossed their weapons on the ground, knowing full well they couldn't fire or else cause harm to the one being attacked. He saw them coming, and with a quick flip, kicked off the ground back flipping as his foot caught one of them under the helmet, causing them to fall backwards.

She didn't know what to do. The scout trooper she'd just accused of laying a trap for her was now fighting the other Imperial troopers with an amazing speed and strength. She watched as he fluently attacked them, each move chaining into another one seamlessly. He wasn't giving them any chance to counter. She couldn't take her eyes off him; he was fighting in a way that almost looked like a dance. Spins, flips, sweeps; it was all there. The last storm trooper dropped to the ground, breathing heavily. "Why are you doing this? You're a traitor!" the trooper screamed. He flinched. He knew what he was doing. He knew all too well. They accused her wrongly; he couldn't let them hurt her. He kicked the trooper in the helmet hard, knocking him out. It was his turn to breathe heavily, tired from the exertion. He turned around and walked towards the woman. Her blaster was still raised. He walked up and put his hand on it, guiding the barrel to his chest. "I'll give you a choice," he began to say in a quiet, solemn voice; "You can shoot, and take how you feel out on me because I can see how mad you are. Or, you can just run, and get as far away as you can." They were close, really close now; her gun was pressed against his chest plate. She knew a pointblank shot like that would still easily kill him. She only looked at him, straight in his eyes. They were soft, sad even. "H-.." she tried to speak, her mouth was dry. "How could I kill someone who just saved me?" she finally finished. He too was looking into her eyes, and smiled softly. "Then I suggest you run." He said. She didn't understand him. He was such a kind person, how was someone like him an Imperial scout trooper? She quietly asked, "What about you?" He looked at her puzzled. Suddenly he laughed. She was taken aback, she was worried about him and this is how he reacted? "You really surprise me you know that? You've just been in a life or death situation, and you don't even know me. Yet, you're worried about my well-being?" He continued to laugh. She smirked. The way he explained it made it seem comical. "Well, to be honest, I'll probably be branded a traitor and executed now. But hey don't worry about it, shit happens." He smiled as bright as he could at her. She couldn't believe him. He was going to be put to death and didn't seem to care! "What's wrong with you?!" she yelled, hitting him upside the head. He looked at her surprised, holding the side of his head. "OW! What was that for?" She only looked at him sternly, "You're coming with me, and we're getting off this planet." His eyes widened, "You're really going to take me with you? You don't even know me!" A hand began to raise up to hit him again. "Ok! Ok! I get it! I'm coming with you!" he quickly said. She smiled, and holstered her blaster. "Good. Looks like you just got your orders to fly." She smiled at him and turned around, walking away. He could only stand there, watching her walk away. Slowly, a smile formed on his face. He quietly whispered to himself, "I finally get to fly…" and with that, he picked up his helmet, and started to follow her.


	2. Progress

**Chapter Two – Progress**

She couldn't believe her luck sometimes. Some might consider her a thief and if you want to think like those people, then it was true. She liked to think of herself as an investor; taking what others didn't want and making use of it. That was, of course, beside the point. Thief or not it was just her luck that the situation that happened, actually happened to her. It wasn't all that bad at first, considering the fact that she understood spaceports only had a limited amount of space. She understood quite well. There were always more important people; and by that it's obvious that they had more money. Pay enough and anything can happen, especially in this galaxy. So the fact that her ship was moved from Theed to the Keren spaceport was understandable. A little irritating but still understandable considering the amount of time she'd spent in Theed. Thankfully she didn't have a shipment on board, she was thankful of that. But what happened next, was just ridiculous. Someone stole her land speeder. That, was something she couldn't understand. She was furious. She'd spent almost two thousand credits on it. She was hoping to be able to transport it with her on her ship so she wouldn't have to walk around anymore. That was the only reason she'd actually paid that much for it, because it was guaranteed to last, it was after all a Correllian imported mark two tri-engine land speeder. Those were pretty well built. But, of course, her luck always had something out for her. She wrapped her arms tighter around him. Well, it wasn't all bad. Maybe it actually was good luck. After all, this ride was way faster. And his skill at driving, it was phenomenal. She was impressed. He'd offered her a ride as soon as she started to curse her trouble.

"I can't believe this!" she yelled, kicking the dirt from the ground. "This is rotten luck!" She grabbed the back of her neck and looked upwards, hoping to relieve the stress building up. She looked behind her. "What?" she asked inquisitively as she glared at him. "Absolutely nothing," he chuckled. He gave another smile, he was always smiling she noticed. "But let's not worry about your bad luck. I can get us there faster." He said casually. She put her arms down, turning around to look at him. "What are you droning on about?" He started walking past her. "Just follow me, you'll see." She was watching him walk away, with a questioning look. She shrugged, and followed him. She might as well, there wasn't anything else she could do, and she lost almost two thousand credits after all. He stopped at the end of the parking garage and turned to her. "Listen, I'm going to have to insist you wear this." He held his helmet out in front of him towards her. One of her eyebrows rose. "Why? An imperial helmet isn't really my style." She scoffed. He only pushed the helmet into her chest. "Like I said, I have to insist." He let go of the helmet as she grabbed it reluctantly. He turned towards the garage and pushed the button, opening the door. Inside was a single speeder. Her eyes widened slightly. "You own a swoop?" she asked a little surprised. He smiled at her. "Hey, I'm a scout, remember? We've been upgraded a bit, sure speeder bikes are nice, pretty fast too, but these are the latest. Swoop bikes. Faster, lighter, they even have more pinpoint turning capabilities. Everything a scout needs." He climbed onto it, kicking down on the foot rest, causing the bike to power up, lifting slowly off the floor mounts it was suspended on. "Before you ask, I had that modified. I like the fact that I can turn this thing on." He laughed as she shook her head at him. "Well, I still don't understand why you gave me your helmet. Don't you need it to navigate?" she asked. "Well it helps, but I like driving this thing without it. And I'm not that bad of a driver. Plus, I'd rather you had it on for protection." He looked at her as he said it. She couldn't help it, the blushing just wouldn't quit. She quickly pulled the helmet over her face to hide it before he saw. "Fine," she said, climbing onto the swoop, "If you insist." He smiled to himself. He waited for her to put her arms around his waist. "Hold on, alright?" he told her, and pulled the throttle, flying forward out of the garage and out into the brush towards the direction of Keren.

"I've still yet to learn your name, you know." He called back behind him as he drove them forward on the swoop. She looked up a little, realizing she didn't even know his name either. Odd, through this entire time she never once thought to ask him his name. She was baffled, why hadn't she thought to ask? She wasn't that trusting. "The name's Veronica. Veronica Morningstar. I suppose you can call me a smuggler." She said through the helmet. He nodded, "Veronica? Well, that's quite an exotic name to me. It suits you. Mine's Myles Dreadlow. So you're a smuggler? That would explain your stubbornness." He joked. She hit him in the side, causing him to veer slightly to the left. "I'm not that stubborn." She argued. "I'd just rather be independent, that's all." Once again, he nodded. "Understandable. Well, I'm afraid you already know my occupation, so I can't really tell you that again." She laughed. "Right, your occupation, you mean saving women even if it costs you your _job_?" she laughed as she pulled closer to him, knowing full well what she was doing. He blushed, profusely, laughing nervously. "Ugh, ha, that's, that's not it. I mean, I couldn't just, you know, let them take you in for something you didn't do. Ha. Ha…" She laughed, loving how easy it was to make him nervous. "Well, the fact is, you didn't need to do it. But, you did. And for that I guess I have to thank you. So the least I can do is take you off this rock." He smiled to himself, "Well, thank you. Hold on a second we're almost there." He pushed down on another foot rest, causing the swoop to shift gears, increasing the speed. He instinctively pulled the throttle as soon as he shifted to maximize the power output. She laughed, "You really know how to drive this thing pretty well. Think you can pilot a ship? I could use a co-pilot." He laughed as well, shaking his head. "Well, that's the problem. I didn't really do too well in the piloting courses. Down here, on the ground, I'm fine." he shifted again, "But up there? Well, even in a simulator I didn't do too well. It's not my thing." He pulled to the right, missing a tree by an inch. "Well, you've got some great instincts, too bad you can't fly. I could use someone to fly the Pride." She said casually. "The Pride?" he asked questioningly. "The Wings of Pride; it's the name of my ship. I call her the Pride for short. She's a YT series light freighter." The pride could be felt dripping from her words, which in itself was ironic.

No sooner than she had finished explaining, Myles had quickly shifted again; the swoop slowed suddenly. They stopped in front of a gigantic building. "Keren Spaceport. Wasn't too long of a trip, eh?" he joked as Veronica had dismounted, taking the helmet off. She shoved it into his chest. "Not at all, but how the hell do you stand having that thing on for so long?" He shrugged as the bike slowly descended to the ground, turning off. "I guess I've gotten used to it." His gaze quickly shifted. "What's that?" he asked, getting off and walking over to the side of the building. Veronica followed him, not knowing what he was talking about. "It's just a junk pile, why are you so interested in that?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips in an annoyed way. Something in the pile moved, shifting some of the junk aside. "What the hell?" she asked, now interested. She leaned forward as to get a better view from behind Myles. Whatever was in the junk pile moving, quickly pushed out and made its way toward Veronica. It stopped in front of her feet and started to beep. Bending down in front of her, Myles started looking at the beeping object. "It's a droid." He said calmly, "A pretty beaten up mouse droid at that." It was true, the mouse droid had an entire side plate missing, with wires cut and laying out. It turned towards Myles, then quickly turned back to Veronica, and drove around her feet, and stopped between her legs. "It looks like it likes you." He laughed, teasing her. She glared at him, "Very funny, now come on, I have to go talk to the dock manager so we can get out of here." Myles looked up at her, "You go ahead, I'll meet you in the lounge. I'm going to try to get this little guy fixed up." He picked up the mouse droid, and stood up. "What good would a mouse droid be to us?" she asked. He scoffed, "Come on. It's an MSE-6 series repair droid. They're usually found on star destroyers. These little things are what keep those rust buckets flying, and if you ask me, they're the only thing." Veronica looked at him, then down at the mouse droid, which beeped twice. "I'm not much of a droid engineer Myles. Besides, that little guy can really fix a star destroyer?" she asked interrogatingly. "Well, ok, not only him. But, he could prove invaluable. I'm sure with a couple modifications we could have him do routine maintenance on your ship so you don't have to, and I can fix him. The academy taught us a little bit about droids. Besides, think of this as payment for my ticket as a passenger." He chuckled, and then smiled at her. The only thing she could do was shake her head. However she couldn't help but smile slightly. "Alright, I'll be back in twenty minutes hopefully; I'll meet you in the lounge. If you're not there, I'm leaving without you, got it?" Myles saluted her, standing tall and straight like an Imperial soldier would salute an officer. "Roger that!" he took off as soon as he finished saluting. She once again just shook her head; he really was an odd one. She turned and headed off into the spaceport.

As Myles was walking, the mouse droid in one hand, his helmet in the other; he couldn't help but think about the past couple of days. He chuckled to himself. _Days_, he thought, _how can that short of time be enough to feel this comfortable with someone?_ He shook his head slowly as he walked. _Not that I actually mind_, he reminded himself, _she's quite a lovely woman after all. I'm rather lucky to even have met her. And she's got a great personality. _He rolled his eyes as he smiled to himself, still walking. _Yeah, such a great personality she has. She's rough, hard to read, as stubborn as the moon is gray. But, I suppose that's her charm. _He chuckled to himself. _Yeah, that's definitely her charm. She's really an independent person; strong, capable, and very smart. _He sighed. _Everything I'm not._ He remembered how easily he blushed as he was driving with her on the swoop. _And I'm supposed to be a soldier. I get choked up because of a woman! _His eyes lowered, watching his feet as he stepped. _She's probably the closest thing to a friend I have though. And I'm not going to lose that._ His gaze returned to a steady level, with a new sense of determination flickering in his eyes. _I'm definitely not going to lose that._ He stopped. To his left was a sign. It said 'Binary Emporium' written neatly in aurebesh. He walked in and saw a familiar face. "Welcome to Binary Emporium, I am C5-J3. May I be of service?" He smiled; _Face wasn't really the right thing to call it. Face plate, maybe? _"Hey C5, how's business?" he asked intently. The protocol droid raised its arms. "Oh! Colonel Dreadlow, a pleasure it is to see you here again." It bowed, stiffly. "May I interest you in any more modifications for your swoop?" Myles shook his head. "Thanks C5, not this time though. Actually, I was wondering if you'd had any spare parts for an MSE-6 series repair droid." As he spoke he placed the droid on the counter. C5 bent down to take a closer look. "Oh, I see an MSE-6 droid. It seems a little beaten up. I shall check the inventory manifest, one moment please." It stood up straight, and stopped. Whoever put C5 in charge of the store was smart. Having a droid was a smart idea for a salesman. They wouldn't accept bribes, could check the inventory in no time flat, and were a little easier to talk to than an actual human. "It seems you are in luck, Colonel. We have a fresh shipment of MSE-6 series parts. They were shipped to us a couple of days ago. Anything in particular you're interested in?" C5 asked Myles. He thought for a moment, "Well, I have a couple ideas. But for now, a ship interface card, security interface card, a blank interface card and a side panel would be perfect, if you have them." C5 turned around and headed to the back. "All four are available. One moment please." After about a minute, C5 returned with a small box. "Here you are Colonel. One ship interface card, one security interface card, one blank interface card and a side panel. That will be two hundred and sixty credits total." Myles nodded, and handed the droid his credit chip. The C5 scanned his card and handed it back. "Transaction completed. Would you like me to install them for you? Free of charge." Myles smiled. "That would be wonderful, thanks C5." After another moment, the mouse droid was on the counter looking more complete than it had only seconds ago. C5 looked at Myles. "This particular mouse droid's serial number is N109W." he said as he turned the mouse droid on. Myles looked at the mouse droid, as it turned to face him. "N109W, huh? That's too hard to remember, I'll just call you Nigel." The mouse droid beeped in compliance. Myles picked it up and laid it on the floor. "Thanks again C5, I appreciate it." C5 raised one of its arms to wave. "You are quite welcome Colonel, please come back soon." Myles walked out of the store, Nigel following him.

Veronica walked out of the office, one of her hands rubbing her neck. _Jeez, that took longer than expected._ She walked down to the lounge, as quickly as she could. _I'm just glad it's all set, within the next half hour the ship will be fueled and ready to launch. Finally, we can get off this rock._ As she got to the lounge, she didn't see Myles anywhere. She sighed. _It figures he'd still be out and about._ She laid on one of the couches, sprawled out. _He's such an odd person. He's supposed to be a scout trooper, and yet he acts so care free._ She breathed in deeply, exhaling slowly. It was a rare thing for her, to be able to relax._ Hell, am I even supposed to be relaxing right now? Myles just took out four storm troopers. He's basically a traitor now, and me? I'm a smuggler; they'd have found that out sooner or later if I was caught. I'd probably be in even more trouble than him._ She closed her eyes, thinking about the past few days. _But, I guess I'll get to see tomorrow, because of him. _She smiled slightly. _I guess I owe him one. He did save my life. I still can't believe how well he fought. Sure, he's a trooper, but still._ She laid there thinking about him. _He's extremely well versed in combat, though I wouldn't have guessed it at first even if he is a trooper. Such a kindhearted spirit too. And understanding…_ she stopped. She shook her head. _Why am I thinking about him this much? Alright, so he gets me, or at least understands my privacy, so what? Actually, he hasn't asked anything about me yet, just my name._ She sighed. He was so odd to her; she'd never had experience with anyone quite like him before. Before too long, she slipped quietly to sleep.

Her eyes slowly opened. She yawned, still feeling groggy from sleeping. She jolted upwards, realizing now that she fell asleep in the lounge. _Just how long was I sleeping for?_ She wondered. Suddenly, she looked around and realized she wasn't in the lounge. She was in her cabin on the Pride. She stood up and stretched. A puzzled look formed on her face. _How did I get here? _She pushed the controls to her cabin and the door opened. She started to walk towards the common area. _Where the hell is Myles, anyway? The Pride's probably fueled by now._ As she stepped into the common area, she looked to the left and saw someone lying down on the couch. Her heart raced, and her hand instinctively grabbed her blaster pistol, aiming at the person. She walked slowly over. After a minute, she realized it was Myles. _What the hell? Did that moron carry me here?_ Just the thought of that made her blush. She closed her eyes angrily, and holstered her pistol. She opened her eyes, looked at Myles, and kicked him in the head. He flew upright, holding his head. "OW! WHAT THE HELL!?" he looked to his left and saw her. "WHAT WAS THAT FOR VERONICA?!" he yelled. She scoffed, "THAT was for not waking me up." she said as she folded her arms across her chest while shifting her weight to one side. Myles sighed. "Well, you were sleeping. I didn't have the heart to wake you up. And I figured sleeping out there wasn't the safest of places." He explained slowly, hoping not to irritate her anymore. She looked at him, analyzing him. Her expression softened, but she quickly turned around. "So where's your armor?" she said, changing the subject. "I didn't even realize who you were. I had my blaster aimed at you for a while, you know." He looked at her with wide eyes. "You did?!" he exclaimed. She turned around and sneered. "Almost blew your head right of." He paled. All she could do was laugh. "Don't worry, don't worry. The important thing is I didn't." He slowly got up and stretched. "Well, no harm no foul I guess. My armor's in one of your storage lockers, I hope you don't mind. I picked the empty one on the end, so I wouldn't intrude." She shrugged. "It's not a problem. Well, it's about time to leave. We should be fueled up by now." As soon as she said that, a mouse droid whizzed past her feet, turning into the maintenance crawl space. She blinked, as if she didn't believe what she just saw. "What. Was that?" she asked as she turned towards Myles, putting her hands on her hips. He just smiled at her. "Remember that broken mouse droid I found? Well, say hello to N109W. I named him Nigel." The droid came speeding out of the crawl space, past Veronica's feet again, and sped into another crawl space like a bullet. "What the hell is it doing?!" she yelled. He laughed. "I told it to do some minor repair work for you, it was a surprise. So, ugh, surprise?" She shook her head, but couldn't help but smile. "Yeah, thanks. Next time let me know first, will you?" Myles nodded, "Yeah, of course."


End file.
